Together or Not At All
by TheWolfAndTheRose99-2
Summary: A Secondary School AU of the adventures of The Doctor and Rose Tyler! Featuring- John Smith (The Tenth Doctor) Rose Mickey Shareen Martha Donna Amy Rory Jack and Sarah-Jane! Better than it sounds, honest!
1. John Smith

_**New story yay. I really wanted to do a secondary school AU because idk I just did. I hope you like it! Reviews appreciated!**_

Rose Tyler walked towards school in a bad, bad mood. After yet another argument with her mother, she wasn't feeling her best. She walked through the estate quickly, deep blue backpack hanging on her back loosely, on her way to Shareen's. Her bleach-blonde hair was tied into little pigtails that sat by her shoulders, and she had kicked off the boring black Clark's her mother insisted she wore in favour for her black converse, that she could just about get away with. She hurried down the stairs from her flat, and came to Shareen's door. She knocked on the red door four times, a little rhythm that she and Shareen had created together to let the other know who it was. Also, Shareen's family wasn't totally legit with some of the things that they did, so her mother wasn't always comfortable with answering the door to strangers.

Shareen opened the door, rolling her eyes before turning back around and shouting up the stairs "Yeah alright Joe, I get it. I'm going school!" and hurrying out, slamming the door behind her. Rose smiled; it was just a typical day in Shareen's life then. Her brunette hair was crimped in what was of the time, the style, and instead of the regulation school blazer that she should be been wearing she had on her black-silver sleeved baseball jacket. She had bubble-gum pink lipstick on and false eyelashes that were only a little wonky, not that Rose had the heart to point that out.

"You alright Rose?" she asked, "You look pissed. And not in the good way." Shareen hunched her backpack up onto her shoulders properly, before linking Rose's arm in hers and walking off with her out of the estate.

"Just had _another_ argument with mum, that's all" Rose said, rolling her eyes and accepting the chewing gum that Shareen offered her.

"Well, at least you're mum's talking to ya at the moment. Mine's being a total bitch."

"Don't say that Shareen, you don't have to put up with Jackie Tyler daily." Rose said with a laugh, and Shareen joined in heartily. "Anyways, enough about crap mums how are things with you and Bradley?"

And just like that the day started as normal as any other, with Shareen chatting about boys, Rose smiling and listening and then Mickey Smith in the year above meeting them down the road and walking with them. Only because he fancied Rose, Shareen said but Rose didn't quite want to believe that, no matter how probably true it was.

It wasn't until they got to the school gates, where they saw a big crowd gathered around a small area down the end of the playground, against the wall of the school, and the deafening voice of the head teacher booming away.

"Who's in trouble with Lazy eye-Latimer then?" Shareen asked, screwing up her face.

"Let's go and find out," mickey said, and the trio ran through the playground over to the commotion. They came to the scene of a broken window, sniggering students standing around, forming a semi-circle, and shouting at a boy that Rose had never seen before. His school uniform was smart and ironed, however instead of a blazer; he wore a long brown trench coat and bright red converse. His eyes were a deep brown, and a similar hue to the chocolaty locks that were gelled perfectly atop his head. He was handsome, Rose had to admit, but he did seem rather strange.

"I swear sir," he said, laughing slightly "It was a total accident."

"Tell that to the cleaner that you nearly hit with a brick ! I'll have you in double detention for the rest of your life for this."

"Now sir, let's not jump to conclu-"

"Oh I will, I'm sure your head of year will be thrilled to hear about this. You've only been here five minuets and you've already done enough to be kicked out! You are so lucky that this is your first day smith, and I'm not booting you out straight away. Now I'll advise you to stay out of my way for the rest of the year."

And with that Mr Latimer stormed off, glaring at first the boy and then the crowd of school children, who quickly dispersed afterwards, taking his look as a warning. _Don't be friends with this boy. Don't let him drag you down to this level._ But the boy didn't seem fazed. He just smiled at as he walked away and then turned to the only three people left, Rose, mickey and Shareen.

"Sorry about that, hope I didn't ruin your morning" he said cheerfully, before extending a hand "John. John Smith, I'm new."

Rose felt herself blush slightly before taking his hand and shaking it and telling him her name. Shareen just rolled her eyes and walked off, saying that she'd see Rose in science. John just shrugged and then turned his hand to mickey, who frowned slightly and then shook johns hand cautiously, before grunting 'Mickey Smith'. He didn't like the way that Rose was looking at him.

"So you're new?" Rose asked, smiling.

"Yep," john said "No idea where I'm supposed to be though. Have you got any idea where the room H6 is?" he asked

"Yeah, it's my form room actually, I guess you're moving to my form."

"Splendid. You seem like a nice girl Rose Tyler, perfect person to share a form in."

Rose blushed again, and then turned to Mickey who had a frown fixed on his face. "I'll see you later mickey, I'm gonna take john to form, the bells going soon." She said.

"Are you sure you don't want me to come?" mickey asked, eyeing john suspiciously.

"Na, it's alright," Rose said, missing mickey's immediate discomfort. "I'll see you later."

So mickey grunted and sauntered off, walking towards the direction of his form, leaving Rose alone with john.

"So are you new to the area then?" Rose asked

"Yes, I used to live up North." John said

"North? You don't have a northern accident."

"I never said north of here. Lots of countries have a north."

Rose just looked at him oddly, raising an eyebrow. "Are you being serious?"

"No," john laughed "I used to live in Scotland."

"Then how come you don't have a Scottish accent."

"I was born and raised until the age of eight in Croydon, but then we moved. I guess I was too stubborn to pick up Scottish dialect."

"Oh okay, well do you like it here so far? Excusing the brick incident?" she laughed slightly, nervous. It wasn't that she felt uncomfortable with john, it was quite the opposite. She didn't know how, or why but she suddenly felt more comfortable with John than she had with anyone in her life.

"Yeah it's alright," he said, screwing his nose up "Now sure about that head teacher though. I don't think he likes me very much."

"That sounds like alright," Rose laughed "Shareen calls him lazy-eyed Latimer."

"Yeah I noticed the eye," john laughed "And I assume Shareen was the girl in the silver and black jacket with too much lipstick?"

"Yeah, that's Shareen." Rose laughed

"And the boy, the black boy with the scruffy trainers. Mickey right?"

"Yeah that's mickey, he's in the year above us."

"Is he your boyfriend?"

"No way," Rose laughed "Mickey? I don't think so." She shook her head in disbelief.

"Oh come on. I've seen the way he looks at you. There must be something going on."

"What do you mean the way he looks at me? I told him that we're just friends."

"I guess that he didn't quite get the message then." John scoffed.

"Huh?" Rose asked, slightly hurt. Had she been stringing Mickey along all this time? Shareen always joked that he liked her but she had never though that she was serious.

"Nothing, nothing. Pretend I never said anything."

"okay." Rose said. She didn't want john to feel bad. He was new and she liked him. She wasn't sure what it was about him, but she really did like him.


	2. Friends

_**SORRY IT TOOK SO LONG XX**_

As they walked towards their now shared form room, Rose couldn't help but be intrigued by this boy. They made casual chatter, but he made it so interesting compared to the normal hum-drum boring conversations that Rose would have with Mickey or even Shareen, her best friend. Even the way he walked was interesting, he walked quickly and she found it hard to keep up, watching as his trench coat flowed out around his ankles. He walked with purpose, never wasting a step.

"So, what was the situation with the brick and the window then?" Rose finally asked. The question had been hanging around her mind since she met him in the playground.

"Oh well, it was just a small- slightly large experiment with temporal physics and the effect of gravity." He babbled waving his hand around vaguely.

"Oh, figures" Rose said, with a smirk

"What?" he asked.

"That you would be a total science geek" she laughed a little.

"Well, I am I bit I suppose," John smiled "but I meant well. I didn't mean to hurt anyone or break anything."

"I didn't think you would." Rose said, smiling.

"So you don't think I'm all bad then?" he joked, flashing that killer smile again.

"definitely not." Rose said smiling back.

oOo

Rose didn't see John again until period four, when he walked into her maths class. She was surprised, because she knew that John was a smart boy who knew a lot about science and physics and maths. So why he was in her maths class surprised her greatly. Rose certainly did not think that maths was in any way her strong point, and just looking around at her classmates showed her that her teachers thought the same. She could see Shareen in the back row in the corner, texting and flirting with Max Sweep, a boy whom she had already 'been out' with twice. Rose knew that Shareen had no real interest in Max, but felt the need to display to everyone else that she could get him if she wanted to.

John smiled at her as soon as he walked into the class, and sat down in the empty seat beside her. She sat in the back row at the other end of the classroom, punishment by their teacher, , for chatting with Shareen to much. That was when Shareen was not flirting with any decent looking boy sitting near her.

Once the lesson was started, and the classroom chatter arose as poor attempted to teach the lesson, Rose relaxed a little and turned to John. "So what brings you to dumbass 101?" she asked sarcastically, smiling. She was actually quite glad that he had walked in as she had been dying to see him all day, and Shareen had kept her holed up in the girls loo's all break time re-doing her makeup.

"My old school failed to send over my results properly, so they have no idea what my levels are for maths or history. They shoved me in here because there was the most space in this class… and looking around I see why," he said, peering around the classroom pulling a face at the students sitting around here "Still… doesn't explain why you're in here. Your smart Rose, I can see that, so why have you been shoved into bottom set?"

"Me, smart?" Rose scoffed "Not quite mate, besides- I never get any of this maths crap." She sighed, pushing the textbook aside.

"Rose Tyler I am offended!" John said, mock gasping in shock "Maths? Crap? I can hardly believe such words."

"You just say that because you're good at it," Rose said "I'm hopeless."

"Hopeless?" John said, raising an eyebrow and sitting up slightly "Rose, in my experience, there is surprisingly always hope. Always."

"Think you could teach me something then?" Rose asked

"Of course! Prepare to eat your words Tyler!"

oOo

Leaving that lesson Rose had felt more amazed and proud of herself than she ever had before. _She had understood maths._ For possibly the first time in her life… it was amazing. and she had John to thank. She left the lesson and walked out with him, considering Shareen had ditched her as soon as the bell went to hang around with Max. Which was fine, Rose was used to it.

Besides Shareen and Mickey Rose did surprisingly have other friends that she didn't see as regularly. She had Martha Jones, a pretty black girl who was seriously smart, she could probably give John a run for her money. She wanted to be a doctor when she was older and everyone knew that she probably would. She was very smart, and preferred studying rather than hanging out after school, but she was nice as in-school friend. Shareen always sighed when she was around and moaned when she was gone that she was hopelessly boring, but Rose liked her and she was nice to chat to when Shareen wasn't around.

Then there was Jack Harkness, the kind of friend that Shareen _adored_ and Mickey _Despised. _he was in the year above, with mickey and was probably the most popular boy in the school. He was very cocky, and all the girls fancied him. Especially Shareen, but surprisingly Shareen seemed to be the one girl that he _wasn't _interested him. He easily got any girl that he wanted, but had a special soft spot for Rose. She was like his little sister and he was fiercely protective over her, and Rose loved hanging around him.

Rose was also friends with a girl named Donna Noble, in the top year. It was odd for anyone in year eleven to be friends with someone in year nine, but Donna was very friendly. She was loud and abrasive but Rose had learnt that she was in fact very kind. Rose could relate to her as they had both grown up without fathers and she would always stop and have a joke with Rose in the corridor when she saw her. Also in the top year, Rose was friends with a girl named Sarah-Jane Smith (The amount of people she knew with the last name smith was quite odd) who was very kind and motherly and gave good advice. Rose didn't know her very well, but Sarah-Jane had given Rose some good advice when she was going out with the school bad boy in the year above, Jimmy Stone, before he was kicked out. Rose liked Sarah-Jane a lot.

Rose was also friends with a couple in the year above consisting of Amy Pond and Rory Williams. Amy was Scottish and easily the most popular girl in her year, possibly the school and was beautiful. She had a mass of long silky ginger hair, but was sharp and witty so nobody dared teased her. She had never wanted for male attention, and had shocked everyone when she revealed that she was going out with Rory. Rory was quiet and a little nerdy, but Amy had always had a soft spot for him, and eventually realised that he was in love with her. They had a sweet relationship, and Rose was good friends with the both of them.

She walked down the hallway with John, talking about each of her friends and he lit up and added his own little observations about the ones that he vaguely knew, and listened intently to Rose's accurate descriptions. Rose was quite surprised when he didn't interrupt her, as she wasn't used to being listened too so much. Shareen always interrupted or gotten distracted, moving onto a different conversation, so it was nice to be listened to for one.

"Your friends sound nice." John said smiling. He was about to ask her some more questions when suddenly, Amy and Rory walked in front of them and stopped. Amy, of course, was walking ahead, with Rory trailing behind.

"Rose! There you are, I've been looking for you" she said, smiling. Rory soon caught up and stood beside Amy.

"Hi Amy," Rose said "This is John Smith, the new boy" she gestured beside her to John, who smiled.

"Nice to meet you both."

"Nice to meet you." Rory said, smiling.

"Anyway," Amy said, moving quickly back to the subject after giving John a friendly smile "Party at my house, tonight. Eight-ish."

"I'm guessing your Aunt isn't in… again." Rose said

"When is she ever in," Amy said with a laugh "but anyway, make sure you come! And you're invited too John. Bring mickey as well if you like, but not Shareen."

Rory grunted "God that girl annoys me. Sorry Rose." He said. Rose just laughed.

"It's fine, I know Shareen rubs some people up the wrong way. See you tonight." She said

"See you tonight John?" Amy asked. John nodded smiling and the pair walked away, arms linked as they headed down the corridor.

"They seem nice," John said "Amy's very…"

"Chatty? Friendly?"

"I was going to say ginger, but those work too." John smiled.

"Oi, I think Amy's hair is lovely."

"Oh so do I, I envy it really. I've always wanted to be ginger." John mused.

"Nah, I can't imagine you ginger. Not at all" Rose laughed.

"I suppose not" john laughed.

"Anyway, let's get lunch?" Rose asked

"Sure Rose Tyler, let's get lunch"

oOo

Rose spent the rest of the day with john, and then walked back home with Shareen and Mickey.

"So did you hear? That Amy Pond is having a massive party tonight, and didn't even bother to invite me! What a cow!" Shareen said as they walked.

"Yeah… I kinda heard about it," Rose said. She had chosen not to mention her invitation to said party to mickey or Shareen through that day, but thought she may as well get it over with "Well, I say that. But I've been invited. Me and John actually"

Shareen just rolled her eyes and mickey suddenly sprung into the conversation. "What do you mean you and John? Do you come as a package now?"

"Not like that," Rose said, rolling her eyes "He was just there when she invited me and invited him too. He's actually a really nice guy."

"He's a dead boring science geek" Shareen said.

"You think all my mates are dead boring" Rose said.

"No, only the boring ones. That Jack Harkness is _lovely_." She said.

"Enough about bloody Jack Harkness, I can't _stand_ that guy," Mickey grunted "Onto this John. I heard he nearly bricked a receptionist earlier. I don't trust him one bit."

"It was a cleaner actually Mick, and an accident I might add. He's really nice, seriously. He even helped me out in maths earlier."

"Yeah I saw you two cosying up in the corner, chatting about maths crap no doubt. He's going to turn you into such a nerd Rose, seriously."

"Oh come off it Shareen, you're just pissed that you didn't get invited to Amy's party and he did."

Shareen cut her eye at Rose and Rose gave her an equally dirty look back, before Mickey quickly intervened. "Anyway, that's beside the point. I just hope he isn't another Jimmy Stone." And with that Mickey shrugged his shoulders, and walked off up to his flat.

"Jimmy Stone, now he was gorgeous Rose," Shareen said, her voice going dreamy as she remembered the hunky, blonde hair, dark eyed musician.

"He was also a total dick Shareen. John's a nice guy, and a friend. Let's leave it at that yeah?" Rose said, clearly annoyed, she began to walk off up to her flat when Shareen called her name again. She turned around to face her.

"You're my best friend. You know that Rose? Have a good time tonight."

Rose smiled. This was the Shareen she knew and Loved, "Thanks Shaz. I'll see ya later."

"See ya Rose," she said, and as Rose walked up the stairs and onto the balcony, Shareen shouted as loud as possibly the whole estate could hear, "Besides, he _is _pretty sexy!"

Rose blushed and laughed. She totally hadn't been thinking the same thing all day.

Of course not.


	3. Run

That night Rose tried on about seven different outfits before deciding what to wear to Amy's party. Sure she had been to a lot of parties, without it being a big deal with what she wore, as she was comfortable with the people around her. She often dressed up a little more at Amy's parties, mainly because all of the hot boys from the year above were usually there, but tonight she hadn't even given getting off with the likes of Marshall Clarke and Carter West, as all she had been thinking about was john.

She gave him his number when he had said goodbye to her at the school gates, and he called around four to ask if she wanted to meet before the party as he had no idea where Amy lived. She arranged to meet him in the estate playground at half seven, blushing furiously when she gave him directions to the powell estate. She immediately regretted it afterwards, thinking that he would think it was a total dump. So she decided to try and dress up as nicely as possible to take his mind of it.

She eventually settled on a very short black pencil skirt, and red tartan polo neck jumper with black heeled ankle boots. It was one of the nicest outfits and shortest skirts that she owned, not that she wanted Jack to look at her legs. she tied her hair up in the 'half up, half down' style that Shareen had showed her and quickly put on some black tights that would be disposed of as she left the flat and walked into the living room where her mum was sitting on the sofa, feet up on the table watching eastenders.

"Mum I'm off out. To Amy's"

"Alright," Jackie said, barely taking her eyes of the telly "But I swear if you aren't back in this house by ten o'clock not only will the door be locked and me be in bed but you will be grounded for at least a week" she warned.

Rose just smiled "Of course mum." she said before heading out the door and slipping her key under the mat as it closed. Rose knew her mum would be fast asleep in front of the telly by half nine, so she could easily sneak in any time after and crawl into bed, looking like the angel child she wasn't. she smiled and quickly checked her reflection in the compact mirror she put in her red bag and smiled, checking her red lipstick wasn't on her teeth. She peeled off the tights, rolling them up and shoving them in her bag before putting a chewing gum in her mouth, and walked down the stairs trying to look confident, as she spotted john sitting on the swing, looking around dreamily.

He turned his head at just the right moment, and noticed her walking towards him and stood up. He was wearing simple denim jeans rolled up to his ankle to show off his red converse, and a simple short sleeved red t-shirt. Rose nearly fell over, _how could someone make such simple clothes look __**so good**_?She thought, trying to regain her composure.

"Hi," he said first, as he climbed over the gate to walk towards her.

"Hi" she said smiling and giggling. _God when did I get so giggly and girlish?_ She thought, internally cringing.

"You look nice" John said smiling. Rose nearly fell over… again. His voice, complimenting her and his eyes looking her up and down but not in a pervy schoolboy way, and the way the corners of his mouth turned up as he smiled, _god_ why wasn't that illegal? She eventually realised that he had spoken at least ten seconds ago, and quickly said "Sorry, thanks. You look really nice too."

"Thanks," he said, noticing her odd behaviour but smiling anyway "So which way to Amy's?"

oOo

Rose was relieved once they came to the bus stop just up the road from Amy's house, as sitting next to him at the back of an almost empty night bus was almost too much for her. Being in such close proximity that their knees were touching caused her to start off the giggling girl act again. It was almost uncontrollable, something as simple as knee touching that she would do with mickey all the time to make her feel like this? It was John for goodness sake, she had barely known him a day.

They walked down the road, in causal chat until they got to Amy's house. It was a big house, with three floors, but wasn't well looked after made apparent by the shabby looking door and ivy growing around the windows.

"You say just Amy and her Aunt live here? This place is huge."

"Well," Rose said "She used to live here with her mum, dad, sister, brother… but there was a car accident. They all died, when she was nine and her aunt has looked after her ever since. Not that she does much looking after… she's always out. Sometimes for whole weekends."

"That's heart-breaking. I didn't know" John said, as Rose rang on the door.

"Yeah, she doesn't like to talk about it." Rose said, when suddenly Rory opened the door.

"Hi guys," he said smiling "Come on in, drinks are in the kitchen."

The party was in full swing, despite only just starting, which didn't surprise Rose. Amy's Friday night parties had become something of legend around the school, boosting her popularity. Who couldn't forget the night that Millie Rowe had found her boyfriend cheating on her with her best friend in the conservatory? Or when Jack Harkness got two girls into one of the upstairs bedrooms with him at the same time? Or when Sadie Crown started stripping on the dining table? Certainly not Rose as she had been present in all of the situations.

She led John into the kitchen-dining room where the party was mainly situated. There were countless bottles of booze lined up on the kitchen breakfast bar, no doubt brought in by the year elevens and sixth formers. Rose spotted Donna laughing and flirting with one of the sixth form boys that frequented Amy's parties. She spotted Rose and smiled, before turning back to the boy. Britney spears was pumping from the speaker in the corner and many of the girls where dancing as the boys leant by the wall watching them. John noticed that one by one, a boy would get up and head over to a specific girl before dancing with them, and then heading either into the garden or upstairs with them.

"So, what do people do around here for fun?" he asked sarcastically.

"Relax John- it's a party," Rose said, nodding her head along to the cheesy pop song "just loosen up a little, have a drink" she said.

"Sorry, I'll relax" John said, smiling before heading over to the kitchen and quickly bringing back two cans of beer. Rose drank hers rather quickly, being used to the bitter taste, whilst John went slower, chatting with her about the people around them.

"Well that's Ashley Stewart, in year eleven" Rose said, pointing to the girl dancing along to the music with a tall good looking boy "And that's Jason Trusty, he's in sixth form." She said

"So what do they 'go out'" he asked

"No, no. Ashley just broke up with her last boyfriend in Jason's year Justin Blake, because she cheated on him."

"With Jason?"

"No, with Anthony Curt," Rose said "She's a bit of a slut." She added sighing.

John just laughed, and Rose did too. She finally felt comfortable for the first time that night. John was so nice, and the beer had helped clear the butterflies in her stomach.

oOo

_two hours later_

The party was still going strong and Rose had left to go to the toilet. She had to queue for at least twenty minutes before finally getting in. she was quick and touched up her makeup, before toddling down the stairs, as her boots weren't the easiest to walk in. as she re-entered the kitchen, she saw John immediately, leaning casually against the wall talking to a girl. She quickly realised that the girl was Katie Bridge.

Rose had always hated Katie. From that moment all the way back in year four when Katie had said that Rose's new haircut was ugly and all the other kids laughed at her until it grew back out. Katie was definitely a total bitch, to say the least. And there she was standing very closely to John, smiling and flirting and flipping her hair everywhere. And what's worse was John was smiling and flirting back.

_No no no_ she thought. This was Rose's worst nightmare. She walked over closer to the pair, and bravely walked over to them, coming to John's side. Rose was one thing, but not a coward.

"Hi John, I'm back. Sorry I took so long," she said trying to smile as brightly as possible "queues for the toilets were a nightmare."

"I was wondering where you are. This is Katie by the way, she's in our year."

"Oh Rose and I know each other very well. Don't we Rose?" Katie said, smiling even wider than Rose.

"Of course, we've known each other since primary school."

"Remember that awful haircut you had in year four?"

"Remember the time you fell over in the school play in year six?"

"Memories" Katie said, as both the girls laughed. But John sensed the tension between them both.

"Anyway John, I'll leave you here with Rose, clearly you guys are having a _ball_. But if you do fancy… a chat later. I'll be around" she smirked before giving Rose one final dirty look and heading off into the depths of the party.

"I'm guessing there's a story there?" John laughed.

"You could say that. But never mind Katie bloody Bridge. She only wanted to get off with you."

"Ohhh," John said, as if he had just solved a problem he had been trying to work out all night. "I wondered why she walked into a corner, stuffed tissue into her bra and then walked over here, smiling way too much and talking to me like she'd known me all her life. Makes more sense now."

"Katie Bridge stuffs her bra?" Rose said, laughing "Oh John, you do make me laugh"

"Find me amusing then?" he said, laughing and raising his eyebrows

"Yeah, but in the good way." Rose said, smiling at him. She was happy to be here with John, she really was.

oOo

About half an hour after the whole Katie Bridge scenario, John headed off to get him and Rose both another beer. They had talked and danced, and Rose had had such a good night that she thought nothing could ruin it. Thought.

As soon as John walked off, a year eleven that Rose knew as 'Rocky' (his real name was Romero) came up and leant against the wall facing her. "Hey," he said smiling.

"Er.. hi." Rose said

"Your Rose right?" he said, still smiling, but not in the way that John had smiled at her. Rose felt seriously unnerved. She didn't like the way Rocky was eyeing her up and down and suddenly wished that her skirt was a little longer.

"So, now that your done with brainy boy over there, how about taking a little trip upstairs with a real man?" he asked.

"No thanks." Rose said, rolling her eyes and attempting to walk away, but rocky gripped her wrist tightly.

"Hey. Don't be like that, Rose."

"You-you're hurting my wrist" Rose said, but Rocky just pressed harder. _Where's Jack?_ She thought anxiously, before remembering that Jack was upstairs with some girl. "Hey, I just want you, that's all"

"Get off me," Rose pleaded, trying to pull her arm away from him, but his grip was too tight.

"Don't be like that, babe."

"Hey," a voice said, from behind them "Rose said leave her alone."

Rose looked around and was shocked to see John standing there, looking angry. Really angry, he set the two cans of beer on the table behind them.

"And what are you gonna do about it boffin boy?" Rocky smirked.

"Step away from her," John said slowly "You get one chance. That was it."

But Rocky just pressed against Rose's wrist harder, pushing it against the wall. Suddenly the most unlikely scenario that Rose could ever imagined happened. John shoved Rocky, hard and he released Rose in shock, but his shock quickly turned into anger. He swung his fist, quickly connecting to John's lip, but John didn't look shocked. He swung back, harder and connected with Rocky's jaw, before kicking him hard in the shin. Rocky tried to swing again but John was faster than him with better reflexes. He punched Rocky in the gut, and as he doubled over, kneed him hard in his chest, causing him to cough. The whole party had stopped in their tracks to watch the brawl.

Rocky went for John again but John once again dodged and punched him hard, several times, before Rory stepped in, followed by one of the sixth formers. "Oi, both of you cut it out" Rory said, before the sixth former came between the two boys shoving Rocky away from John. "Everybody out!" Rory called as Amy came running in from the kitchen. Everybody sighed slightly and scuttled out, the party being over, the sixth former also headed out just as Jack came running down the stairs as the girl he was with ran out after hearing the commotion. He ran into the kitchen seeing a rather beaten Rocky, John with a split lip and Rose crying.

"Rosie, darling what happened?" he said gently stroking her hair.

"That Dick Rocky was hurting Rose, so John told him to piss off. But rocky wouldn't let go, so him and John got into a fight." Rory quickly explained, handing John a pack of ice.

"You did that to him?" Jack asked

"He was hurting Rose. What else could I do." John shrugged, holding the ice pack to his lip.

"Here Rosie, let me see your wrist" Jack said, as Rose held out her arm gently, it looked bruised- Rocky must have been holding her pretty tightly. Jack turned around and looked at Rocky, "Don't you ever touch Rose again you hear me? I don't want you talking to her, touching her… don't even look at her." He said.

Rocky quickly scuttled away, mumbling and grumbling and Jack kissed Rose lightly on the forehead before grabbing his jacket and slipping out into the night. "Hey, I'm sorry about all this," Rose said sniffing slightly "Me and John should probably go."

"It's okay, and thank you John," Amy said "You did the right thing. We'll see you two at school on Monday yeah?"

"Yeah," John said, smiling as much as he could through the pain coming through his lip "It was a good party though."

Amy just laughed and said thanks, and John and Rose headed out the door. "I'll walk you home, don't want that idiot Rocky lurking around anywhere." John said as they stepped out into the right.

"Thanks," Rose smiled "and thanks for protecting me. You didn't have to do that"

"Of course I did, can't have anyone hurting my Rose can I?" he said, laughing.

Rose laughed too and the two of them walked through the dark streets. "Let's not get the bus," Rose said as they walked up the street "It's a nice night."

"Do you know what we should do?" John said.

"What?"

John smiled, and clasped Rose's own hand tightly in his, he turned his head to stare at her and said one word.

"Run."


	4. Baby Kisses

The two of them ran through the night, and Rose felt ecstatic. Rose had never exactly been a runner exactly, but it was something about the way their bodies curved through the night, streaming through the empty London streets. It was magnificent. The way John's lean body moved through the streets with such elegance yet still managed to hold her hand tightly lit her up inside in a way that was just indescribable. Somehow, being here, with John, everything in Rose's world just felt…_right._

Eventually they came to a stop just inside of the estate, both of them panting heavily, their breath intermingling, given their close proximity. His smelt like orange tic tacs, zesty and fresh. Rose tried not to smile to herself like an idiot when she noticed he hadn't yet let go of her hand.

"That was… fun" she said, smiling gently.

"Yeah," he said, looking down at her. _This is it;_ Rose thought _the big kiss, the romance. Bring it on. _

But John just simply smiled, and released her hand. "Thank you, Rose Tyler, for a wonderful night." He said, kissing her gently on the forehead before turning around and running off into the night. Rose sighed, and shook her head. _What was that?_ She thought to herself. She really thought that John had liked her, and all his actions leading up to that were giving her all the signs, but then he left on that?

Rose looked down, and pulled her skirt a little lower down. "Maybe he thinks I'm a brainless tart" she thought aloud, before delving into her bag and quickly pulling her tights on, the cold air was now tickling across her thighs as the chilly night air sunk in, her adrenaline rushed out of her. She pulled out her phone, and saw two texts from Mickey.

_22:06_

_U alrite at the party b?_

_22:27_

_I herd John was causing trouble?_

She rolled her eyes and deleted them both, not even bothering replying. The fight would be the talk of the school on Monday, so she would just explain to Mickey then. She looked at the time, 23:07; hopefully her mum would be asleep. Rose just hugged her shoulders, and started heading up the stairs to her flat. She could see from her balcony that Shareen's bedroom light was on, so she decided to give her a call as she got in. she opened the door softly, and smiled as she saw her mum passed out on the sofa, TV still blaring. She tiptoed over, and shut the TV off, placing a blanket over Jackie's sleeping form, and crept into her bedroom.

She quickly changed into her pyjamas and dialled Shareen's number. Shareen answered promptly, after two rings.

"So what happened then?" was the first thing she said on answering "Because I heard from Macey King, who heard from Ray Foreman that you and John were getting cosy in the kitchen"

Rose could almost hear the smirk in Shareen's voice, and she rolled her eyes. "I can't argue with that, it was going well. Then Rocky in year eleven had to stick his oar in, and John ended up with a busted lip."

"John got beat up by Rocky?"

"Other way round Shaz, Rocky was being a dick and John beat him up. Then Jack stepped in and slung him out, the party ended after that."

"So what happened with you and John then? Did you heal his wounds or some other soppy bull?" she joked

"Shut up Shaz, nothing happened."

"Don't give me that Tyler, I saw you two come running into the estate, thick as thieves from my bedroom window. I shut the curtains after; I'm no lezzie watching my mate snogging."

"Well if you had stuck around to enjoy the show, you would've seen that I got nothing"

"Nothing? Not even a kiss?"

"A baby kiss. On the forehead. Then he ran off."

"What a wanker."

"Oi! He is a nice guy, but he's a bit… oblivious. Head in the clouds type, he did flirt and dance with me, all night. I thought he really liked me… maybe he does."

"Well from the way he was beaming at you like a kid on Christmas when you got in, I thought you were in Rose. I dunno, maybe your losing your touch."

"Losing my touch? That's why I got hit on at least three times when John went to the loo."

"Alright, alright, I take it back. Anything else happen?"

"That bitch Katie Bridge stuck her oar in. as usual"

"Oh god, I hate that girl. What did she do?"

"I pop off to the loos for five minutes, come back and she's all leaning into him, chatting aloud of crap as usual."

"What did John do?"

"Well like I said, he's a bit oblivious. He didn't notice she was trying to get off with him, and when I showed up she cleared off. He said he saw her stuff her bra, which I am totally spreading."

"Oh that's good. I'm so texting that to Macey…" Shareen said "But it sounds like it was alright. Don't know why John's pratting about, but he'll soon come to his senses. Oblivious or not, he definitely noticed your arse in that skirt."

"Shaz!" Rose exclaimed.

"You know it's true," Shareen said "Anyway, I gotta go. Mum's shoutin' about how she's gotta get to sleep. I'll text you tomorrow."

"Alright Shaz, talk to you tomorrow."

"And don't forget to text Mickey, he phoned me worrying about you, as usual!"

"I'll talk to him tomorrow."

"You know he'll just sit up waiting for you to text back, just put him out of his misery Rose."

"Alright, later Shaz"

"Bye."

Rose hung up and looked at her phone, lingering over Mickey's contact. She checked the time, 23:25; he'd probably be in bed by now anyway. Rose shut the phone, and climbed into bed. Mickey could wait until tomorrow.

oOo

Rose was awoken at nine am, by her mother pounding at her bedroom door. "For the last time Rose Marion Tyler, wake up! Mickey Smith's at the door, dithering as usual. He won't bog off until you come out!" she called, before Rose heard the familiar shuffle of her mum's slippers across the carpet.

"Yeah she'll be out in a second Mick, girls… they take forever!" she heard Jackie shout. Rose noticed the time and rolled her eyes, what could Mickey possibly want that was so urgent at nine in the morning. She quickly got up, and threw on a pair of grey tracksuit bottoms and a t-shirt, along with her trusty red converse. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes, wiping away last nights makeup, and put in two big silver hoop earrings. She decided to leave her hair, and just ran her fingers through it a few times. Mickey had seen her worse, after all.

She walked out into the kitchen, and grabbed a slice of toast off the side, before heading out the flat and downstairs. Mickey was waiting for her, sitting on the wall underneath her flat.

"There you are! I was worried about you when you didn't text back, and then I hear from Shareen that John got into a fight, with Rocky?"

"Mickey, slow down…" Rose said, wincing "My heads killing me, and I'm tired. Its nine in the bloody morning on Saturday, is this really that important?"

"I just wanted to make sure you were alright."

"Mickey I was fine, you don't need to worry about me. John got into the fight with Rocky over me, he was protecting me. He's a nice guy."

"I don't like him Rose, why did he start a bloody fight in the first place? Be honest, if he weren't there with you, would that fight even have happened."

"Yeah, it would of actually" Rose snapped "If John wasn't there , Jack would've looked after me."

"Yeah, maybe if he wasn't busy feeling up half of the girls in lower sixth upstairs."

"Oh come off it Mickey, why do you have an aversion to every guy I'm mates with."

Mickey shifted awkwardly, and avoided eye contact. "Because, I just wanna make sure your safe, alright?" he said.

"Mickey I don't need you looking after me. Ok?" Rose asked. Mickey just looked down, and Rose hopped off the wall. "Now I'm going back to bed for at least two more hours."

"Are you coming out later?"

"I don't know. Shareen's out with Carl Pierce, so I might meet up with John."

"Oh." Mickey visibly tensed.

"Problem?" Rose asked.

"It's nothing." Mickey said, before hopping off the wall and walking off towards his flat. Rose just shrugged her shoulders and rolled her eyes at Mickey's reaction. He was so over protective, you would think they were together or something. Rose knew how much Mickey cared for her, but he needed to back off a bit. She could hold her own, and the Jimmy stone incident taught her that. She didn't need Mickey. Not really.


	5. Going Out

As Rose woke up for the second time, she turned over and stretched. She checked the time, and smiled. Eleven in the morning, more her style. Her head felt better, and she was definitely in a better mood. She felt guilty about snapping at Mickey like that, but he just didn't know when to stop. He cared to much, and Rose didn't need him as much as she did before. Mickey had been there for her during the Jimmy Stone incident last term, and she was grateful for that, but Mickey needed to realise that Rose was okay now. She had John.

She pulled her phone out from her bedside drawer, and checked her messages, she quickly noticed one from Martha, and opened it.

_10:52_

_Hiya Rose. Was wondering if you wanted to meet up today? Bring whoever you like, but maybe not Shareen. I don't think she likes me much._

Rose smiled, somehow Martha seemed to come across so cute and vunerbale over text, when in real life she was definitely equally as confident as Shareen, but more focused. She quickly texted back,

_**Sounds good. Mind if I bring John, if he's about?**_

Martha texted back immediately,

_John, the new boy? I heard you two where erm… getting close the other night at Amy's_

_**Oh God. Is the whole school talking about that or something?**_

_Pretty much._

_**Well I'll stop the rumours now. We're just mates. He's nice, you'll like him. Super smart.**_

_Okay, bring him to mine. We can head up town or something._

_**Ok**_

Rose quickly sat up, suddenly excited at the idea of seeing John again, the thought sent butterflies to her stomach, and she quickly tried to supress them. John was her _friend_ nothing more, she kept repeating to herself. She dialled John's number quickly, her heart beating faster with each beep. Finally after what felt like years, he answered.

"Rose Tyler, what can I do you for?"

"Hiya John" _Hiya? When did I turn into a year seven?_

"What's up?"  
"Um, I was just wondering if you wanted to come out today."

"Out where?"

"Well Martha was wondering if we wanted to go up town with her, just hang about and that."  
"Okay Rose Tyler. Sounds good. should I meet you at your estate in say an hour?"

"Sure."

John clicked off without saying goodbye, and Rose silently cringed at the word estate. She bet John lived in a massive house with marble pillars and umpteen bedrooms or something. Her and her mum were lucky to be in this two bedroom flat, as a lot of people on the estate with multiple kids had to put up with one bedrooms. She tried to push thought of John looking down on her out of her head, as he seemed to be a nice guy, and hadn't said anything about the estate before.

Rse quickly showered and washed her hair, changing into her nicer jeans, and off the shoulder top. John had only seen her dressed up or in school uniform, so she couldn't exactly meet him in her trackie bottoms like she would Mickey or Shareen. She blow-dryed and straightened her bleach blonde hair, frowning at her roots. She would have to get her mum to dye them again soon.

She applied heavy mascara, but kept down on the lipstick and foundation, sticking to a peach party lip gloss instead. She didn't want John to think she was trying too hard or anything. Looking outside at the slightly disappointing weather, Rose grabbed her pink zip-hoodie, and slipped her feet into her Nike trainers. They would have to do as most of her other shoes needed replacing. She glanced at the time, it was 11:45. It was at least another twenty minuets until John showed up, great. She pulled out her phone again, and dialled Shareen's number.

"Rose I'm about to leave to meet up with Carl, what is it?"

"I'm meeting John in twenty minuets, I need advice."

"Not exactly time for a bloody counselling session Rose"

"Come on Shaz, just tell me, how can I know if he really likes me or not?"

"Rose, if he really likes you, you'll know. Now piss off the phone, because I see Carl and he's got the sexiest new haircut, oh Rose you really should- YEAH CARL OVER HERE DARLIN', I'll see ya Rose."

And with that Shareen hung up the phone and Rose rolled her eyes. Typical Shaz, picking a bloke over her, as usual. She played her fingers over the buttons on her phone, eager to ring John and see if he was going to be here any time soon, so she didn't want to look to desperate.

With a need to be distracted, she dialled Jack's number.

"Rosie sweetheart, what can I help you with? Done with your superhero John and ready to move on to a bit of Harkness?" he joked. Rose rolled her eyes and laughed through the phone.

"Very funny Harkness, if you must know I'm just trying to kill time before John meets me."

"Ooh, going on a date are we? Kinky"

"Oh shut up. It's not a date, we're meeting up with Martha actually."

"Jones? That's hardly going to be fun. Don't get me wrong, I like Martha, but you know what they say, three's a crowd."

Rose bit her lip, she hadn't thought of that. She wanted to spend time with John but she didn't want to leave Martha out. "Crap, I didn't even think of that. I can't blow her off, she invited me out. I asked if I could bring John."

"I'll tell you what sweetie, I will cancel the movie I've got with Stacey Lee in lower sixth, and come out with you guys. Stop Martha from playing gooseberry."

"Oh Jack thank you so much. I don't even want to imagine how awkward that would be."

"No problem Rosie, I will text Martha and sort it out and meet you at her house"

"Thank you, again" she said, hanging up the phone and smiling, Jack always knew how to fix things in an instant. Rose was lucky to have him, as Jack was like a brother to her. He had been there for her through her troubles with Jimmy and before that. Sometimes he joked that he was secretly in love with her, but Rose felt it more as a family relationship. Jack was like her older brother.

As she hung up she noticed a text from John.

_I'm at the swings._

Her heart skipped a beat unexpectedly and she looked in the mirror for a final time. Jackie had gone out to meet up with the bingo girls, so she left a note on the side saying that she was going out to meet Martha John and Jack. Then she thought again, and quickly scribbled out the John part. She didn't need unnecessary hassle from her mother about the new boy on the scene. Not that John was on her scene or anything. Not that she hoped he wanted to be, or that she even cared. John was just a mate, for god's sake, he had made that plenty clear.

She headed out the door, slipping her key underneath the mat once again and took a deep breath. She zipped her hoodie up and began her descent down the stairs, becoming aware that she was being watched. She looked out and noticed Mickey, staring at her. And there was a boy next to him, a tall boy with gravity defying hair and red converse. Her heart skipped at least three bits when she realised Mickey was standing there, with John.

She cringed internally, trying to avoid a blush on her cheeks as she sped up her pace and trotted down the stairs. What was Mickey saying to him? Was he trying to scare John off? She was so angry at Mickey, and her hands subconsciously balled into little fists at her sides. Mickey had _absolutely no right_ to intrude in her private life like this. Him and John weren't friends, and they had barely said two words to each other before. Mickey clearly had no other reason to talk to him, than to ward him off of Rose. God he was so protective sometimes, he needed to realise that Rose wasn't the naïve kid she was over the summer. In the past few months, she had grown up a lot more.

She tried to keep her face smiling as she headed into the swings where the boys were. John was leaning against the wall casually, one foot resting on the wall, taking sips out of a can of coke. God he looked cool, Rose thought to herself before scolding herself internally. It was becoming harder to tell herself that John was just her friend. Mickey was standing slightly in front of John, his pushbike resting against the wall. They stopped their conversation and both turned, to face Rose.

"Y'alright Rose?" Mickey asked "Me and John were just chatting, he was waiting for you."  
"Yeah well, we're going out." Rose said, and then blushed furiously as both John and Mickey raised their eyebrows, "No, no not like that. Wrong choice of words. We're going to meet Martha, and Jack is tagging along too." She said quickly, trying to cover up what she let slip. Luckily John just smiled, a lopsided grin. "We should probably make a move then," he said, motioning his head to the exit of the estate. Mickey's face was straight, void of any emotion. John hadn't noticed this, so he just smiled and held his hand out to Rose, who took it immediately. "Nice chatting to you, Rickey" he said, before walking off with Rose, clutching her hand gently. Rose worried if her hands were sweaty and clammy, but tried to keep a straight face. They were a little way out of the park, when Mickey called out, "It-it's Mickey!" but unfortunately for him, John clearly wasn't paying attention.

He swung his arm, swinging Rose's too, one hand tucking into the pocket of his long brown trench-coat, and turned to face Rose. He didn't say anything, but just smiled again, and Rose found herself smiling back, twice as wide.


End file.
